Michigan Sculpture Park Announces Once-in-a-Lifetime Exhibit
Fall the perfect time to check out beautiful gardens, and one popular Michigan sculpture park is hosting a new exhibit. Of course, you might think of summer as being a better time to visit gardens, but with fall foliage in full bloom during the autumn months, it’s really a beautiful time, too.
Famed Michigan Sculpture Park Hosting New Exhibit
Our beloved Michigan sculpture park, the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will be hosting a groundbreaking exhibition this fall called “David Smith: The Nature of Sculpture,” highlighting the work of David Smith, who lived from 1906 to 1965. This exhibition is actually “the first to explore Smith’s deep engagement with nature,” according to a statement. It will open on Sept. 23, 2024, and run through March 2, 2025.
“The art of David Smith is profuse and marvelously inventive. Working in multiple media, formats, and scales, he blurred boundaries between painting and sculpture and between traditional genres such as landscape and figuration,” a statement from Meijer Gardens explains. “Smith’s bountiful oeuvre has secured him a firm place within art history and his adventurous approach to three-dimensional form has permanently expanded the vocabulary and range of sculptural practice.”
One of Smith’s big claims to fame is that he was the first American artist to create welded metal sculpture and to absorb industrial methods and materials into his creative repertoire, according to Meijer Gardens.
“While David Smith is recognized as the most important sculptor of the 20th century, there is still much to be learned about his expansive art, especially as it relates to the natural world,” says exhibition curator Suzanne Ramljak, Vice President of Collections & Curatorial Affairs at Meijer Gardens. “We are excited to reveal this crucial and lesser-known aspect of Smith’s career at Meijer Gardens, where sculpture and nature are so intimately bound.”
“David Smith: The Nature of Sculpture” will offer 40 sculptures, as well as paintings, reliefs and works on paper, to give an exceptional exploration of Smith and his work. “Uniting key loans from major lenders—including The Whitney Museum of American Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Storm King Art Center—the exhibition will be arranged in loose chronological order, beginning with Smith’s earliest sculptures from 1932 to the year before his accidental death in 1965,” the official description states. I think it’s great to see this one-of-a-kind exhibition coming to our beloved Michigan sculpture park. I’ve actually never been to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park and have always wanted to go, so perhaps this is my chance.
Fun and Affordable Staycation Ideas
Netflix and Chill
Have a vacation in your living room or bedroom. Make it a movie-watching marathon. Watch a string of your favorite guilty-pleasure movies or binge-watch a brand new series. Either way, it’ll be cozy and comfy.
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Visit a Local or National Park
If you have a state or national park nearby, use your vacation time to go adventuring. Being at a local park can offer some breathtaking scenery, especially in the summer. Have a picnic out there, too. If you don’t have a state or national park close by, try a local park.
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Visit a Local Museum or Art Gallery
Nearly every town has a local museum or art gallery. Perhaps you’ve never really had the time to visit your local museum or art spot. Use your vacation time to explore those local spots, and you might find a new favorite place.
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Stay at a Local Hotel, Airbnb or Bed-and-Breakfast
If you’ve driven by that new hotel for a while and wondered what it’s like inside, why not book it for a night? You don’t have to be traveling to say at a hotel, Airbnb or local bed-and-breakfast. It can make for an exciting adventure right in your backyard.
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Have a Party
Using vacation time to plan a big party for friends is a good use of that time. Instead of traveling around the world, bring to world to you. Invite lots of your good friends, and spend some of the cash you would have on a vacation for your party. It’ll be the party of the year. Make that decade.
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Have a Spa Day
Pamper yourself. Maybe you think having a spa day is too much of a luxury, but if you’re saving money by not taking a big trip, why not use that money for a spa day? It’s not just for ladies, either. Guys can book a spa day for a variety of services. It’ll make for a day of bliss.
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